Czech Forum 2000 to assess democracy development since 1989

The 18th Forum 2000 international conference to get underway in Prague on October 12 will aim to assess democratisation processes over the past 25 years, following the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, organisers have said. The conference this year carries the slogan “Democracy and Its Discontents: A Quarter-Century after the Iron Curtain and Tiananmen”. The main guests will include Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former Russian oligarch who was imprisoned under the Putin regime and Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski. Participants are expected to debate current international problems including crises in the Middle East and Ukraine.